The Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin

Acclaimed Australian director Baz Luhrmann is the man behind films like The Great Gatsby, Moulin Rouge, Romeo and Juliet - and he's spent time exploring Elvis Presley's work.
Luhrmann directed the 2022 Elvis biopic, and it was during that production process that he discovered hours and hours of unseen Elvis concert footage down a Warner Brothers salt mine.
He used the footage to craft EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert.
"There's not a frame of AI in this movie and there's no visual effects - I'd like to say the only visual effect is the effect Elvis has on the audience."
LISTEN ABOVE
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Antihero by Gregg Hurwitz. This is the latest in the series of thrillers about Evan Smoak, otherwise known as Orphan X - who was trained by the Government from childhood in the art of black ops but has since left the scheme and now uses his skills and talents to do good. He goes by the name of The Nowhere Man and when people in distress call on him he goes to their aid, his only stipulation being that they must pass on his contact number to someone else who needs his help - and in this latest outing, his help is indeed very badly needed. These books are great fun - a combination of Evan’s superhuman fighting skills, luxury tastes, digital whizz sidekick, and a willing suspension of disbelief.
Strangers by Belle Burden. Belle Burden is American royalty - she’s a descendant of Cornelius Vanderbilt and her grandmother was the legendary Babe Paley. She thought she was happily married to a hedge fund guy and when Covid hit New York City the family relocated to their country estate where he promised to look after them during the pandemic - then one week in she received a phone message from someone to say that her husband was having an affair with this man’s wife and her world fell apart. Her husband walked out, saying he didn’t want anything to do with her or their kids and largely stuck to his words. This is a meditation on betrayal, on being blindsided by the loss of her marriage, and on how badly some super rich men will behave given half a chance. Clearly money wasn’t an issue for the author either, but to have the rug pulled out from under her during such uncertain times and then to write about it with such grace and clarity makes for a very good read.
LISTEN ABOVE
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The final piece of Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia has been laid in place.
This brings the church to its maximum final height 144 years after work began.
BloggerAtLarge.com writer Megan Singleton explained the significance of this development.
LISTEN ABOVE
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As Whakaari/White Island exploded around tour guide Kelsey Waghorn, she was convinced this was the end of her life.
Waghorn is among the 25 people who were seriously injured but survived the December 9 eruption in 2019 - while 22 were killed in the eruption.
She shared a full account of her story in her new book, Surviving White Island.
"You look at the video of the eruption - and it's the first time I got shown the video of the eruption, in hospital...and it was just all hectic."
LISTEN ABOVE
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on The Sunday Panel, journalist and editor, Jo McCarroll, and host of The Front Page podcast, Chelsea Daniels joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more!
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was recently arrested after being accused of sharing confidential information with the late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein while he was trade envoy for the United Kingdom. What does this mean for the royals? Do we need to oust Charles as our head of state?
After the Government backtracked on their housing intensification plan, Heather du Plessis-Allan wrote a piece in the Herald defending the concerns from Auckland residents over housing. Do we think this is justified?
LISTEN ABOVE
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.